


Stand By Me

by DrDom



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Brotp, Episode: s02e04 Dead Stop, Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 13:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3570596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrDom/pseuds/DrDom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trip and Malcolm have just left an unimpressed Archer after their 'little stunt' on the alien repair station. Missing scene/friendship fic from S2 episode 'Dead Stop'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stand By Me

There was an uncomfortable silence in the turbolift as Trip and Malcolm returned from the Ready Room. Malcolm stared at his boots, his shoulders hunched defensively. Trip shot him a look before letting out a loud sigh. 

“The Captain’s got one hell of a face on him when he’s pissed off.”

Malcolm didn’t respond.

“Still, confined to quarters ain’t _that_ bad,” Trip considered.

The other man grunted.

“Come on, Malcolm, cheer up. Captain’ll forgive us sooner or later.”

Malcolm found his voice, and his tone was bitter. “You, maybe. He’s probably wishing right now he’d left me in the Romulan minefield.”

The turbolift doors opened and Trip was left standing, open-mouthed.

“Christ — Malcolm!” He ran after the younger man, grabbing him by the arm just as he entered his doorcode. “That was a joke, right? You _know_ that’s not true.”

Malcolm shrugged him off, but didn’t meet his eyes. “You should be in your quarters,” was all he said.

“Yeah, well yours’ll have to do.” Trip pushed Malcolm inside. “I ain’t letting you go around saying things like that.”

The door closed behind them.

“Well?” Malcolm faced him.

“So you _really_ reckon the Captain’s going to be thinking that? Seems like you don’t know Jonathan Archer at all.”

Malcolm looked away. 

Trip sighed. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”

“As we were so recently reminded, I’m quite capable of deciding on my own ‘conduct unbecoming’.”

“He never called it _that_.”

“He didn’t need to! ‘You’re senior officers, you’re supposed to set an example’ — what else does that mean? I’m meant to think ahead, assess the safety of the ship, and bring any practical concerns to the attention of the Captain — not crawl around mysterious tunnels like the Famous bloody Five.”

“Jesus, Mal, I’ve heard of high standards, but you need escape velocity to reach yours.” 

Malcolm glared at him.

Trip tried again. “Look, we screwed up, we got carpeted, we’ll cool our heels for a bit, and then it’s over. You’re acting like you never got yelled at before!”

“ _I_ haven’t made a habit of requiring to be reprimanded.”

Trip paused. He looked at Malcolm closely. “You really haven’t, have you? What, never?”

“Not by anyone who mattered,” Malcolm muttered.

 _Oh-h_. Trip suddenly understood almost certainly a lot more than Malcolm would want him to. Having heard his strictures on the ‘idiotic American tendency to hero-worship’, he guessed Malcolm was not having an easy time with himself at the moment.

“Okay, so it’s different when it’s your own C.O.,” Trip said, carefully. “And I feel like a heel for messing around when he’s trying to keep us all safe out here. But this is _Jon_ we’re talking about. He’ll have forgotten all this by the time we’re out of dock.”

A glimmer of hope had made it into Malcolm’s face when the comm panel chimed.

“Archer to Lieutenant Reed.”

“See, he’s probably over it already and needs you to blow something up,” Trip said, encouragingly.

Malcolm gave him a repressive stare before activating the comm. “Here, sir.”

“There’s a situation down in the launch bay. I want you and Commander Tucker here right away.” The Captain’s voice was heavy with concern and — something else. Something more.

Malcolm and Trip exchanged a glance. “We’re on our way, sir,” Malcolm said. 

As Trip followed him out, he was glad to see the purpose back in Malcolm’s step. Whatever was down there, he’d rather deal with it with Malcolm than anyone else. And if Malcolm had finally decided that Archer was a Captain worth admiring, well — all Trip could think was, what had taken him so long?

**Author's Note:**

> Changed the last paragraph from the original posting as it really wasn't right. Teach me to post when I'm not 100% happy with something!


End file.
